Sideswipe: June 8: Couch potatoes love a view

"This sofa is half way up a cliff on Narrowneck Beach in an old WWII observation post," writes Rene of Devonport. "Looks like a nice spot to rest up, but no sign of a kettle ..."

When fear makes you go crazy

A Houston woman identified only as Blanca was at the Chase bank in Uvalde, Texas, when armed bank robbers stormed in. She was so frightened, she ran to the first car she saw and drove away. She later found out that she had taken the robbers' getaway vehicle! She said she drove a few miles from the bank, pulled into a car park, fell out of the car and ran into a nearby shop, screaming for help.

It's all deadlines and demands

A reader writes: "I work for a courier company and I think NZers in general need to understand a few things about the job. These guys start as early as 4.30am, and finish as late as 7pm. They do not get lunch breaks, tea breaks or anything like that. They have contracted deadlines and demanding customers.

They can have 400-500 parcels to deliver a day. Put on top of this people who park in loading zones, block them in and generally make life difficult. Parking on the footpath is not ideal but I would love to see where the store's loading zone is and who was parked in it. It is a long, hard and generally thankless job as people never appreciate the hundreds of items delivered on time but are quick to whinge about one late parcel. Don't even get me started on the insane demands of residential customers who 'were home all day'. Couriers keep a lot of our commerce going and they work bloody hard. We don't condone parking on the footpath at all, but know why sometimes they do."

Sleeping rough for sponsorship

There are many wrong ideas about the homeless - that they are drunks or that they want to be on the streets. The truth is homelessness affects men, women and children and people from all backgrounds and most would rather have a roof over their heads. Those involved in helping say we are all only a life-changing event away from being homeless - financial pressure, a serious health scare, divorce, death of a loved one, the loss of a home due to earthquake. This month I am sleeping rough in the Auckland CBD as part of the Lifewise Big Sleepout. Please sponsor me (no amount too small - or too big). (Or you could donate to PrimeTV news reader, Eric Young, Astar from Good Morning or any of the other 48 participants).